Our poor shoulders…
As a remedial massage therapist, I treat LOTS of shoulders! A whopping 50% of my day is spent treating stressed, raised and even lopsided shoulders! One of the main culprits for us women is… you’ve guessed it – our handbags. Crammed full of everything we might need in a day: laptops, flat shoes, heels, make-up, hairbrush, water bottle, packed lunch. Sound familiar?
Let me show you a very real example of one of my clients, who kindly consented to me sharing these before and after shots, with you:
Before: Left shoulder treated, right shoulder untreated After: Both shoulders treated
Can you see how significantly raised her right shoulder is?! Both shoulders are even
Here’s the thing about shoulders – they SHOULD slope. They should not be flat. They certainly should not be raised. In order for bags to stay on shoulders, you HAVE to raise them so the bag doesn’t fall off. So, what can we do to prevent this? Here’s my top tips to give your shoulders some much needed TLC:
Top Tips
- Smaller, lighter bags – large leather bags with lots of metal bits and tassels may look great but they weigh before you’ve even put anything in.
- Cross-body bags / bags with 2 straps – if you can, use a bag that has a strap that goes across your body. This means even if your bag is unavoidably heavy, it’s resting on your opposite hip and, importantly, your shoulder is not raised to keep the bag in situ. Or as you know, 2 straps evenly weighted on your shoulders is even better. Doesn’t have to be an ugly backpack, there are some beautiful leather ones in the shops at the moment.
- Heavy wallet? Mine’s a bulky number but I love it so instead of ditching it, I empty it of all the heavy coins and I make sure I only have the cards in there that I need. Everything else you can probably just chuck anyway as you probably never use it!
It can be that simple 😊
Hazel.
** Discover how well your body can move and feel **